The range has caught the eye of Singapore-based online fashion retailer Inverted Edge, which Ryan describes as Asia's answer to the online fashion phenomenon Net-a-Porter.
"This is the start of an Asian strategy for us," says Dallimore.
Representatives from Inverted Edge, who met the couple during last week's Fashion Week, were impressed with the technology of the high-end fabrics, including New Zealand merino and Italian-made MicroModal, which make for a better wearing garment.
"It's quite heartening that what we've stayed with for 15 or more years as a story has even more credibility today than it might have had then," he says.
The Singaporean e-tailer will stock 50 styles from the non-seasonal "essentials" range, a core collection that can be restocked within days of ordering.
The sharp turnaround is down to the New Zealand-based manufacture.
Dallimore, who has just shy of 50 years' experience in fashion retail and manufacture, says contracting the sewing to local firms means things can be done in a managed, quality controlled, boutique way that suits their business model.
He says sewing costs in China might be half what they are here, but once you tot up shipping costs and consider intellectual property management, it doesn't make for massive cost savings.
Plus, with fabric worth more than $30 a metre, a container-load of faulty items can be an expensive surprise.
Although Ryan had a hand in creating New Zealand fashion bible Fashion Quarterly before launching the Simply You magazine titles, she admits to having no hands-on fashion experience.
"I'm not a fashion designer. I know what I love to wear and I see ideas."
She originally approached Lane Walker Rudkin, the now defunct Christchurch clothing manufacturer that produced Canterbury, Adidas and Jockey, to create a line of basic tops in quality New Zealand-produced merino.
It loved her idea and was keen to use her as the face and design inspiration for the brand, creating a licensing agreement in the vein of Elle McPherson's deal with Bendon.
Ownership changes at Lane Walker Rudkin resulted in her taking back the brand, with Dallimore joining her to manage the production.
The essentials line has a sister label, the "Paula Ryan Collection", with a seasonal, fashion-oriented approach.
Kylie Bax, the 39-year-old former model, has recently been signed to front the brand, a move aimed at capturing a growing market among women in their 30s and 40s - the daughters of Ryan's core market.
Stocked in 110 retailers - 45 in New Zealand and 65 in Australia - the Paula Ryan label works best with retailers who specialise in what Dallimore calls recommendation selling.
"The people we sell to are the independent boutiques in the middle-to-upper-residential areas, mostly family-owned with staff and management fully enthused about the brand, wearing it in the store and talking to their customers who are also their friends."
Business was hit hard by natural disasters in market strongholds - the Christchurch earthquakes and Queensland floods. Ryan says four key accounts, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each season, suddenly went out of business, but beyond that growth has been steady and manageable, with sales growing 14 per cent last summer.
The pair, who married in 2005, have a simple dividing line for responsibilities - Ryan manages the creative side while Dallimore handles business management.
Each travels to the company's West Auckland headquarters in separate cars, sometimes not seeing each other over the course of a business day.
It was a tip Ryan gleaned years ago from British fashion icon Mary Quant, when she quizzed Quant about how she managed working day-to-day with her business partner husband.
They work with a tight team of 20, who Dallimore says are empowered to carry on in their absence and form the foundation of the company's succession plan.
Ryan's trust was tested 12 years ago when an employee defrauded her of about $300,000.
Dallimore says taking him to court resulted in ongoing publicity but he wasn't prepared to let the conman walk away.
Now both in their 60s, Dallimore says the focus is on building a solid business that will one day move to new ownership.
Ryan says, "I'd like to think that one day young women who see the brand say 'was there ever a woman called Paula Ryan?'.
"I would find that a compliment. It means that [the brand] has got endurance."
